la ville rose

Toulouse grows on you, rather agreeably. It was formerly the
capital of a vast region united by the Occitan dialect, and this tradition
still prevails, notably in street names, which are bilingual, and the way it
proudly defends its Occitan ancestry.

Any expectations of city grandeur are soon dispelled as you
explore this ancient sprawl of narrow streets and squares, grand and small, on
the banks of the Garonne. A southern city, within site of the Pyrenees, and the
fourth city of France, Toulouse is open to influences from Spain and,
architecturally at least, Italy, too. Marketing PR proclaims that the quality
of life and economic dynamism attract more than 18,000 new people each year,
seduced by the region and its European metropolis capital, which successfully
couples development with an easy-going lifestyle.

There is an energy about the city that seems boundless, a
simmering vibrancy and mildly frenetic atmosphere that can leave you
breathless. Much of that is to do with the annual influx of over 100,000
university students – the third largest such gathering in France, after Paris and Lyon –
which unavoidably brings a certain joie-de-who-cares to the
city. Equally, it brings impromptu street entertainment in the form of
musicians, fire-jugglers, trick cyclists and bizarrely dressed individuals bent
on some idiosyncratic mission beyond the ken of most onlookers.

FAST FACTS

Toulouse is 240km/150 miles to the E of Bordeaux and 150km/95 miles W of Narbonne.

HOURS OF SUNSHINE

2,028 hours
of sunshine per year, on average.

URBAN TRAFFIC

1,034 km of
streets and avenues

Parking for
about 11,634 cars

Over 234 km of
bicycle lanes.

SPORTS, LEISURE ACTIVITIES

94 sports
grounds

Over 3,000
acres devoted to leisure activities

160 parks,
gardens and squares.

HOTEL FACILITIES (Toulouse and surrounding area)

134 hotels
with an average of 49 rooms per hotel.

Total number
of hotel rooms: 7,095

CityTour Toulouse

See Toulouse on a red minibus with a retractable roof on the
Toulouse City Tour. Every day at 10am and 2.30pm, explore the city with commentary
triggered by GPS location, in 8 languages.

Place d'Arménie, 31000 TOULOUSE

Tel: 05 62 07 08 01 (Select 1 to make a reservation)

www.citytour-toulouse.com

This remarkable city is a paradox: nothing changes, and
yet there is constant change. The core heritage lies in its architecture, its
life-giving association with the Garonne and that more recent watercourse, the
Canal du Midi, which traverses it, and in its many sub-districts, each with
tangible individuality. And yet new state-of-the-art hotels – like the Citiz – appear, to take the place of
ageing venues, and extensive renovation is under way in the district of Carmes.
Elsewhere, it seems, someone is constantly investing time in thinking up new
ideas that promote the city, not least, in 2010, the artistic installations
along the Canal du Midi that celebrated the life of canal-designer Pierre Paul
Riquet, who lies buried beneath an unimposing slab in the cathedral of St
Étienne, and never quite lived long enough to see his beloved inspiration reach
the sea.

Just an hour’s flight from Paris, and around one-and-a-half
hour’s drive from the Mediterranean or the Pyrenean ski resorts, the city, with
a core population of 445,000 (1.1 million in the wider metropolitan area), has much
to attract those who are happy living in cities, not least its 160 parks,
gardens and squares, 79 sports grounds, 1,000 hectares of leisure areas, 1€ per
day cycle hire (www.velo.toulouse.fr andregular food and
craft markets. This is the capital of France’s largest region, Midi-Pyrenees,
and it shows. There is no sycophantic nodding in the direction of Paris or
Lyon, just a business-like enthusiasm, always in touch with reality.

Walking is the best way to see the city, especially the
charming area of narrow streets (ruelles intimes) in the St Etienne
district around the Place des Carmes (see Walking Tour). Pedestrianisation of
the city centre is moving apace, but you can also choose to hop on the free
electric shuttle service, the Tisséo, if you want to explore the city centre
less energetically.

If you can stay in Toulouse for only a few hours, be sure to
start by visiting the splendid monuments that have made the city famous.
Toulouse has over 600 acres of historical sites, the most extensive in France.
If you can, try to include a night tour so that you can explore the magical
lighting background of the “Plan Lumière” illuminations!

Like most cities, Toulouse has its quota of ‘must see’
buildings, and those in this energetic place really are worth seeking out.
Central to the city is the Capitole,
a huge, ornate building named after the ‘capitouls’, or consuls, who once ran
the city. Today, it still houses the administrative machinery of city
government, amid galleries of fine art in the form of wall paintings and
statues; it’s all splendidly roccoco, and not surprisingly in demand for
weddings even if that demand sometimes assumes the semblance of a matrimonial
assembly line.

In front of the Capitole, the huge square – lined with
rather plainly designed red-brick buildings in order not to detract from the
magnificence of the main building – is the site of three markets each week,
typically bustling affairs. Not far away, the Basilica Saint-Sernin is
a seriously impressive building with styles reminiscent of the abbey-church at Conques in Aveyron. By contrast
the church of the
Jacobins has a most surprising and simple construction, accomplished
in a number of stages. Its stained glass windows are quite modern, bright and
colourful, bringing muted radiance to the interior. And tucked away through a
door lie the cloisters, a place of peace and quiet. Here, during the autumn
months the splendid acoustics are put to good effect during the Piano
aux Jacobins festival.

Not far from the centre of things the Pierre d'Assézat mansion is a magnificent
17th-century town mansion built by Nicolas Bachelier for Pierre d'Assézat who
made his fortune from woad, a plant used in dyeing. The building houses
the Fondation Bemberg, a private
museum with a very interesting permanent collection of paintings, bronzes and
objets d'art.

As well as the Garonne, the city has its share of another
ancient aquatic thoroughfare, the Canal
du Midi, which links the Med and the Atlantic. Designed by Béziers-born
Pierre-Paul Riquet the canal is today classified as a World Heritage Site.
Built under Louis XIV, it is the oldest operational canal in Europe, and
provides a chance to see the city from a boat tour, or to use its banks for
cycling or walking.

Just outside the centre lies the Cité de l'Espace. Total immersion
is guaranteed in the centre's two auditoriums equipped with the latest in
modern sound and image technology. The IMAX cinema (with its giant screen and
3D glasses provided) and Planetarium (360° circular screen and astronomic
simulator) mean that visitors are no longer merely spectators of the skies, but
find themselves actually IN Space!

Within the grounds themselves, you'll find an unusual range
of lifesize spacecraft. Climb on board the Soyuz 1st generation spacecraft and
an exact replica of Mir, the famous space station in which many Russian
cosmonauts have been trained.

Of course, there is so much more to see and appreciate; it
is a very vibrant and enterprising city, constantly updating itself. No matter
how many times you visit, there's always something new.

The latest addition to the collection of Toulouse’s
attractions is the Aeroscopia Museum, a unique collection of aviation heritage,
creating a link between the past, the present and the future of aviation.